


four letters

by jessenigma



Category: ACCA13区監察課 | ACCA 13-ku Kansatsuka
Genre: Gen, Love Letters, M/M, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 09:37:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18496270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessenigma/pseuds/jessenigma
Summary: The hush of the office was broken by two things: the bright chatter of three women coming back from lunch and the sudden wild coughing fit of one man reading a mysterious letter apparently pulled from the depths of his bag.Knot had seen Jean blush before, had even once seen him flush bright red during an especially memorable work dinner, but that was nothing compared to his face now. Jean looked almost exactly, Knot thought, like a tomato.Or, how four letters to Jean helped Knot win the inspection department's latest romance betting pool.





	four letters

Rain lashed against the office windows as Knot’s hands flew over his keyboard. It was blissfully quiet, and maybe, if he could finish entering the last of yesterday’s reports while everyone else was still at lunch, just maybe he could get everything else done in time to slip out early that afternoon –

The sound of the door opening pulled his attention away from the stack of work still waiting, and he looked up to see Jean heading for his desk, bag dangling loosely from one hand and cigarette case dropping back into a coat pocket from the other.

“Have you seen my umbrella? I thought I had it with me, but I couldn’t find it…” Jean’s bag sat on the desk now as he rummaged through it, muttering half to himself. “Oh, there it is… huh.”

Knot’s attention had drifted back to his computer and the neverending set of reports that stood between him and dinner out with his family while Jean was busy unearthing the missing umbrella, but the curious note in Jean’s voice drew his eye back to the man. Jean was eyeing a small cream-colored envelope in his hand, just a hint of wariness showing up in a line between his eyes. Knot could just make out the lines of Jean’s name on the front as the man carefully tore open the envelope and pulled out a folded bundle of papers.

The hush of the office was broken moments later by two things: the bright chatter of three women coming back from lunch and the sudden wild coughing fit of one man reading a mysterious letter apparently pulled from the depths of his bag.

“— did you hear about Warbler? I wonder if he’s going to— vice-chairman, are you all right?!”

Knot had seen Jean blush before, had even once seen him flush bright red during an especially memorable work dinner that would never, ever be repeated if any of them could help it (no more shared bottles of Jumoku wine on a weeknight, thanks), but that was nothing compared to his face now. Atri’s vocal concern was more than understandable.

Jean looked almost exactly, Knot thought, like a tomato. Even his earlobes were red as he hastily stuffed the letter back into his bag, the blush growing ever deeper by the second.

“I’m fine, thank you,” Jean said, a hint of strain in his voice. “I’m leaving for Korore now, I’ll be back in the office on Wednesday.”

Four sets of eyes stared at Jean as he headed for the door with noticeably more speed than usual, bag in hand as he hastily dialed his phone. As the office door shut, Knot could just make out Jean saying something that sounded like _Nino…_

The hush of the office returned briefly as everyone eyed each other in confusion.

“That was weird. Do you really think he was okay?”

“Was that a letter in his hand?”

“Ohhh, maybe he got a love letter!”

“Does the vice-chairman have a girlfriend after all? I don’t think he does, does he?”

“Maybe it’s a secret affair!”

The women’s chatter faded into the usual background noise as Knot looked back at the pile of reports still waiting to be finished. A love letter. Hmm. Maybe if he asked his parents now, they could take the kids for the evening and he and his wife could have an early date night.

  

\--

 

The brick wall of the café felt cool against Knot’s back as he hung up his phone. It had been five long days of overtime trying to set up a new system that, if he was honest, he still didn’t understand, and he was ready to just go home and hug the kids. They were fine, his wife had said, but they missed him. Soon, he hoped, soon. Once this lunch was over, once the girls had eaten their last piece of cake and Jean had smoked his last cigarette, they’d all be back to the office for one last push.

A wisp of smoke wafted towards him on a breeze, and he looked up to see Jean standing on the sidewalk a few feet away, grinding out the last of his cigarette. He caught Knot’s eye and nodded, coming over to join him at the café’s wall. They stood there for a minute, a comfortable silence enveloping them, before Jean cleared his throat.

“Thanks for all your hard work this week.”

“And the same to you.”

“I’ll be glad to be done,” Jean said with a sigh. “I didn’t think we’d hit so many snags with this.”

“At least there’s only one district left. My kids’ll be upset if I’m not home before bedtime again.”

Jean laughed, a small puff of sound.

“Lotta wouldn’t be happy either. Maybe I shouldn’t take any more smoke breaks today.”

As silence fell over them once more, Knot looked down at his watch, the hands ticking ever closer to one o’clock.

“It’s almost time to go back. I’ll go get the others.”

“Go on ahead, I’m going to have one last cigarette first,” Jean said, patting at his pockets for his lighter. Just as Knot pushed away from the café wall to head back inside, a puzzled expression passed over Jean’s face, and he reached inside his jacket to tug out an oddly familiar-looking small envelope with his name scrawled in a tight hand across the front.

“When did he—” Jean stopped himself before he could say any more, but a faint stain of red crept high across his cheeks, swiftly accompanied by a small, secretive smile. He didn’t open the envelope, just slipped it back into his jacket, but the smile still didn’t quite leave Jean’s face.

Knot coughed softly then, pointedly looking back at his watch.

“So, do you think we might finish up early today?”

“Yeah, if everything goes okay, I think so.”

“If there’s time, I think I’ll take my family out for dinner. Maybe Lotta would like it if you took her out too.”

“Hmm. Maybe she would.”

As Knot went back into the café to get the girls, he could just hear Jean talking softly into his phone.

“Should we take Lotta out to dinner tonight?”

  

\--

  

Knot looked up from the brownie he was eating (from a new bakery on the other side of town, highly recommended by one of Keli’s friends’ girlfriends, definitely worth a visit on his next day off) just in time to see an envelope flutter to the floor as Jean picked up his coat.

“Oh, sir, you dropped something.”

“Hmm? Ah, thanks.”

Jean nodded at Moz as he bent to pick up the fallen envelope. The remaining half of Knot’s brownie was nearly forgotten as he eyed the letter in Jean’s hand. That nice cream-colored stationery, the writing on the front, its mysterious appearance from nowhere… how many letters was this now?

Even under the scrutiny of the entire office, Jean’s expression didn’t waver from its usual relaxed neutrality as he slipped the letter – already torn open, interesting – into a stack of papers on his desk. There was no hint of red creeping across his face, no smile playing across his lips, nothing. Jean looked like the same calm and collected man as always as he donned his coat and bid them all a fond farewell for the day.

Knot’s attention turned back to his three o’clock snack as the office door softly clicked shut, but he still couldn’t help glancing over to Jean’s desk and the stack of papers he’d slipped this newest letter into – the small, distinctively cream-colored stack of handwritten papers nestled between his computer and a framed photo of Lotta. How interesting.

  

\--

 

  _“—was there really another letter?”_

_“Yes! Yesterday we were talking outside after work and he opened his cigarette case and there it was! Folded up inside! It looked just like the one that fell off his desk the other week!”_

_“Ooh, do you really think they might be love letters then?”_

_“That would break so many hearts! I wonder who might—"_

Before he could even open the door to the kitchen to get a fresh cup of coffee, Knot turned around and went back to his desk. Jean would be back from his early meeting soon, he should really double-check the morning report transmissions before he did anything else.

An explosion of three distinctive sets of giggles was muffled by the closed door.

Then again, Knot thought as he picked up his phone and began to type, it wouldn’t be fair if everyone else was left out of important news just because they weren’t assigned to headquarters.

 

\--

  

The shrill ring of his desk phone jarred Knot out of deep concentration. It was, he squinted at the too-small numbers at the corner of his computer screen and winced, past time to leave for the day, but first things first –

“Hello?”

“ _Knot, good, you’re still […]  – I’m sorry to ask you this […]_ ”

Jean’s voice crackled, the call cutting in and out.

“Wait, I can’t hear you, the phone line’s –”

“ _—my friend downstairs, but I’m running late, can you […] bring him the […] my desk? It should –_ ”

The call cut out altogether then, leaving Knot with nothing but a dial tone in his ear. Sighing, he tried calling back, but got nothing but the number unavailable message. Jean was probably on the subway then, and who knew when he’d be back in range.

A friend downstairs? What was he supposed to bring?

Knot eyed Jean’s desk, which didn’t have much obviously out of place. His inbox had a couple of files Knot had put there himself earlier that afternoon… there was an apple Moz had brought in out of some sort of health kick the previous day… but nothing seemed like anything Jean would need him to pass on to someone.

Well, maybe the friend knew.

Downstairs in the lobby, Knot spotted a familiar figure waiting just inside the doors – a tall blue-haired man in black jacket and jeans, a motorcycle helmet in his hand. Ah, Jean’s photographer friend, the one he’d met a couple of times now… what was his name again?

“Sorry, have you been waiting long? Jean’s not here, he asked me to bring you something, but the phone cut out before he could say what…” Knot started, apologetically. The other man chuckled, a warm sound.

“He didn’t tell you either?” he asked, the corner of his mouth quirking up in a half-smile. “I think it’s part of a graduation present for Lotta.”

“Well,” Knot said, “you can wait for Jean upstairs in the office if you’d like. He should be back soon.”

Back upstairs, Jean’s friend made himself comfortable against the wall behind Jean’s desk as Knot began closing up his work for the day. The office was quiet, only the faint hum of computer fans breaking the silence, and Knot had almost forgotten he had company when he heard a soft “hmm, what’s this?” and a shuffle of paper from the other man as the office door opened. In strode Jean, attention focused on the phone in his hand.

"Sorry, I think I got cut off earlier. Did you find the bag next to my desk—” Jean’s absent words stuttered to a halt along with his footsteps. Knot looked up from his computer just in time to see a bright red blush begin to roll across his boss’s face as his friend, now leaning on the edge of Jean’s desk, waved a familiar stack of cream-colored stationery.

"Was this what you wanted me to pick up, Jean?” the man said, a teasing note in the warm purr of his voice and a smile dancing at his lips.

“No, it was not!” Jean sputtered, his face rapidly approaching tomato territory once again. He marched over and snatched up a small shopping bag from beside his desk that had been completely overlooked during the earlier search.

“I didn’t know you’d keep—” Jean’s friend started, only to be cut off by Jean hissing “ _NINO_ ” before glancing over at Knot.

Right, Nino, that was the man’s name. Something about that hiss sounded a bit familiar too. Knot smothered a laugh with a small cough and pointedly stood to slip on his uniform jacket.

“Is there anything else you need before I go home for the day, sir?”

“Ah, no, that was all. I’ll be heading out now too, if you could close up.”

Knot couldn’t exactly say that Jean ran out of the office then, Nino in tow, but he could say it was a close thing. Before the office door clicked shut, he could hear the sounds of conversation moving down the hallway, Jean’s voice strangely muffled and Nino’s voice a warm, pleased hum.

(He counted to ten before he left the office, just to make sure the corridors were quiet and the stairwell empty on his way out.)

As Knot rounded the corner towards the subway entrance outside the ACCA building, he caught sight of two familiar figures standing by a motorcycle across the street. The helmet Nino had been carrying was resting on the motorcycle’s seat, forgotten as the pair stood close to one another. Knot pulled his gaze sharply away as Jean reached a hand towards Nino’s face, and he sped towards the subway station stairs, a grin spreading wide on his face.

Knot was definitely going to clean up in the department betting pool on Monday.

**Author's Note:**

> (Nino's first letter was the most devastatingly romantic letter Jean had ever read and was definitely not supposed to be read until he was alone on his work trip, but by the time he started leaving letters in Jean's cigarette case on a plain old ordinary Tuesday, half of them said things like "don't forget your dentist appointment". Jean still kept them, though)
> 
> for cc, since I liked my [completely unfounded twitter speculation](https://twitter.com/jessinbooks/status/1110657089687441410) after the OVA announcement so much, I ended up writing a story myself even after shamelessly requesting [this wonderful fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16717547/chapters/43721330)


End file.
